Thursday, March 26, 2015

‘Junior’ may be home again by week’s end. But will it be D.C., or So. Shore?

Sometime
Thursday, federal inmate Jesse Jackson, Jr., will be released from the prison
camp near Montgomery, Ala., where he has been held since last spring; and I’m
sure his thoughts and prayers are focused on how quickly he can return to home.

Technically,
Jackson remains in federal custody through Sept. 20, although his release to a
halfway house in the District of Columbia is part of the process by which all federal
inmates become re-accustomed to life outside of prison walls.

AND
YES, I realize that Jackson was being held in a camp that was part of an air
force base, but the imagery remains.

But
the trick is going to be to decide whether Jackson can be determined to be such
a non-threat to the society at large that it would be a waste of time to have
him actually stay at the halfway house.

It’s
a very real possibility.

Remember
back when former Gov. George Ryan was released from the work camp that was
attached to the federal prison near Terre Haute, Ind.? He reported to a halfway
house on the West Side, and it was found within six hours that he didn’t need
to be there.

HE
WOUND UP spending that first night of “freedom” really free at his home near
Kankakee. It’s very possible that depending on how late in the day you actually
read this commentary, Jackson himself could be on his way home.

The
only question being, “Which home?” The house he has in the Adams Morgan
neighborhood of Washington? Or the house in the South Shore neighborhood that
gave him the address that enabled him to be a part of the Illinois
congressional delegation for all those years?

Will
Jesse, Jr., return to his South Side roots? Or find that a change of scenery is
best for him to be capable of building a new life for himself. He did just turn
50 a couple of weeks ago, and is still capable of doing something significant
to build his reputation.

Even
though I’m sure there are certain ideologue crackpots who will only be satisfied
if Jackson were to become a destitute bum. Of course, then they’d rant about
him existing off the public welfare rolls.

SOME
PEOPLE ARE just determined to be miserable to deal with! Like the ones who, I’m
sure, are now ranting that Jackson should not be free anytime soon – even though
his “criminal” offense wound up being the use of campaign funds to purchase
assorted memorabilia to decorate the office.

Which
makes me wonder about the ongoing mess that soon-to-be former Rep. Aaron
Schock, R-Ill., faces. He being the guy who spent significant sums to
re-decorate his own Capitol Hill space – is there something about interior
decorating that attracts the suspicion of “the feds” to warrant indictment,
conviction and incarceration?

It
will be intriguing to see how the new Jackson comes to be.

While
he had a political career of some significance with big dreams that fell short
(“Mayor Jackson?”) of becoming reality, I don’t doubt he could come back to
achieve some goals that could wind up topping his political significance.

OF
COURSE, HE has to get through this ordeal first. Regardless of where he calls “home,”
he’s likely to have to wear one of those funky ankle bracelets during the
summer months so as to further demean him.

Then,
sometime in mid-October, spouse Sandi (the former alderman who got busted for
signing the income tax returns that allegedly tried legitimizing Jackson’s
actions) will have to do her few months in prison – followed up by her own
stint in a halfway house/home confinement.

When
the Jacksons are finally (sometime late in 2016) finally able to get on with
their lives, there is another benefit. Perhaps then we’ll be able to get over
our public obsession over this case.

I am a Chicago-area freelance writer who has reported on various political and legal beats. I wrote "Hispanic" issues columns for United Press International, observed up close the Statehouse Scene in Springfield, Ill., the Cook County Board in Chicago and municipal government in places like Calumet City, Ill., and Gary, Ind. For a time, I also wrote about agriculture. Trust me when I say the symbolic stench of partisan politics (particularly when directed against people due to their ethnicity) is far nastier than any odor that could come from a farm animal.